Under normal circumstances, the Department encourages students to consider studying abroad particularly during the Spring semester of junior year. If a program is approved in advance by the Office of International Programs, the Department will credit as departmentals as many as two courses in political science (or related fields) when they are taken at a foreign university, provided that the student has obtained pre-approval from the Study Abroad Advisor. Normally, the Department is willing to substitute no more than one subfield requirement and one cognate, or two cognates, for concentrators studying abroad for one semester. 

NOTE: Students may not study abroad during the Fall semester of junior year as they need to be on campus to take POL 300, as part of completing the Fall JIW requirement - beginning with the Class of 2025.

In the Spring term, students who study abroad will write a junior paper under the supervision of a Politics faculty member who will advise them remotely. Students must report to the Department who their Spring JP Advisor is before Winter Break begins.

Requests to study abroad in the Fall semester of senior year will be considered on a case-by-case basis and must be approved both by the Office of International Programs and the Study Abroad Advisor. Interested juniors must secure a Senior Thesis Advisor and confirm this arrangement with the Department no later than June 1.

The Department will allow up to four study abroad Politics courses to count only in the event a student wants to study abroad in the Spring of junior year and then again in the Fall of senior year – two for each semester abroad. 

Prospective concentrators who wish to study abroad during sophomore year that intend to declare Politics as a major should receive pre-approval for departmental course credit from the Study Abroad Advisor. The Department will accept up to two Politics-related study abroad courses from sophomore year which can be applied towards the major, one of which can count as a Politics prerequisite. [This rule suggests that one of the prerequisites must be a Politics course that was taken at Princeton no later than the end of sophomore year.]

Additional information is available at the Office of International Programs.

Study Abroad Advisor, Guadalupe Tuñón, can answer any questions regarding the Program.